Olivia Troye, a former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, introduced Tuesday that she would run for Congress as a Democrat in Virginia’s proposed new seventh District, pending passage of a sweeping redistricting referendum this month.
Troye publicly broke with the Republican Party in 2020 after serving in political and nationwide safety roles, signing onto a letter with greater than 130 fellow GOP officers endorsing Joe Biden’s marketing campaign and arguing that “Donald Trump has failed our country.”
In the years since, Troye has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Republican Party below Trump. She was a featured speaker on the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
“The evil I saw in that White House was staggering. In 2020, I finally said ‘enough,’” Troye mentioned in a video saying her congressional bid. “Trump doesn’t scare me. I took him on when it mattered the most, and I’m ready to do it again.”
With the announcement Tuesday, Troye – now formally a Democrat – grew to become the primary candidate to declare for the race within the proposed new seventh District. A crowded area of potential contenders is taking form, together with former Virginia first woman Dorothy McAuliffe and a number of other state lawmakers.
First, nonetheless, Democrats should prevail within the high-stakes redistricting referendum on April 21 that may decide whether or not the brand new seventh District exists in any respect. It’s the most recent entrance in a nationwide fight over gerrymandering which, if handed, might allow Democrats to realize 4 seats and take a 10-1 benefit within the state’s congressional delegation.
Republicans have disparagingly branded the brand new seventh because the “lobster claw district,” a reference to its contortions aimed toward maximizing Democratic vote share.